This invention relates generally to a bottle carrier device designed for packaging bottles of the conventional type including a generally cylindrical reduced neck portion diverging into a larger body portion. The neck portion has openings which may be closed by various caps or closure means. The bottles are typically arranged in a rank-and-row relationship usually in two parallel rows of three ranks.
Several efforts have been made to produce a carrier device for bottles or the like. Typical of such efforts are paperboard wrap-around or partial wrap-around carrier devices. Other efforts include a top-grouping carrier of plastic type material or cardboard material. Other packaging concepts utilized include a two-part device such as a band member around the periphery of the array in conjunction with a flexible resilient plastic member associated with and joining the neck of the bottle.
More recent efforts to create a carrier device for such bottles include a one-piece flexible plastic device such as generally described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,545,480; 4,548,317 and 4,557,375. The devices described in the aforementioned patents include a plurality of apertures equal in number to the bottles to be packaged, dimensioned to frictionally and resiliently grip the body regions of the bottles. The devices include handle means designed to extend upwardly of the plane of the device.
While these carrier devices represent an improvement over the prior art devices, the handle means have generally been limited in length making the handle means difficult for the user to grasp and hold.